There was ample evidence Friday that the shaky power sharing deal signed between ZANU PF and the MDC is headed for collapse. On the day a new cabinet was sworn in, chaos was the order of the day.

Analysts say hardliners within ZANU PF are determined to torpedo the deal and the arrest of the newly appointed Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennet was part of those moves.

Mugabe showed the internal pressure he is facing from within his own party by trying to increase his allocation of ministers. The subsequent heated debates delayed the swearing in ceremony by about 5 hours, begging the question of how the political parties will ever work together.

More chaos is also being reported on farms countrywide, as leading army, police and ZANU PF officials loot and plunder what is left of the few remaining and thriving farms. The question on everyone's lips is, what has Tsvangirai got himself into? Under the power share deal ZANU PF secured the key ministries of defence, state security and information, while the MDC are saddled with the more complex finance, health and social service ministries. There can be no doubting the good intentions of the MDC in making life better for the people, but a growing number of their supporters are increasingly frustrated by the bullying tactics of ZANU PF.

The failure to release political prisoners, some whom have spent over 3 months in custody, is also not helping matters. Although the new Prime Minister visited the prisoners on his first day at work on Thursday, many had wanted the prisoners release to be a pre-condition before joining Mugabe in a government.

Tsvangirai meanwhile has been forced to re-shuffle his cabinet, two days after announcing it. Apparently his appointment of Nkayi North MP Abednico Bhebhe, from the Mutambara MDC as Water Resources Minister, violated the political agreement between the parties. According to Welshman Ncube, from Bhebhe's party, the MP would have had to resign his seat in parliament if he was to take up the appointment. Tsvangirai has now replaced Bhebhe with his own MP, Joel Gabbuza from Binga.

More pressure was heaped on Tsvangirai after constituents in Matabeleland felt he had marginalized them in the cabinet appointments. The recently appointed Minister of State Enterprise and Parastatals, Eddie Cross, was sacrificed in the changes made to appease them. Former Daily News Chief Executive Samuel Sipepa Nkomo replaced Cross. The MDC simply said Cross had been 're-assigned' but some felt it was sad that tribal considerations were given more prominence than perhaps the abilities of the people chosen into government.